According to Russian official media, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that the West intends to take the war in Ukraine to the Asia-Pacific area. He made these remarks on Monday at a defense event in Beijing.
Speaking at China’s most significant military diplomacy gathering, the Xiangshan Forum, Shoigu said that NATO is using an “ostentatious desire for dialogue” to hide a force build-up in the Asia-Pacific area, as reported by Russia’s TASS news agency.
According to Shoigu, NATO members are stepping up their military presence in the area and holding larger-scale and more frequent drills, encouraging an arms race. According to Shoigu, American forces would utilize intelligence sharing on missile launches with Seoul and Tokyo to dissuade China and Russia. Additionally, he charged that Washington was attempting to justify “humanitarian interventions” by using natural catastrophes and climate change.
New security blocs like the Quad and AUKUS, according to Shoigu, are undermining the influence of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and regional efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation.
However, he clarified that Russia was not reducing its bar for the use of nuclear weapons and that its decision to withdraw its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty did not signal the end of the pact.
Shoigu stated, “We are only seeking to restore parity with the United States, who have not ratified this treaty,” according to the Russian news agency RIA. “We are not talking about its destruction.”
Shoigu stated that while Moscow was prepared to negotiate a post-conflict settlement of the Ukraine problem based on continued “co-existence” with the West, Western nations should give up, hoping Russia would lose strategically.
Shoigu stated: “It is also important to ensure equal relations between all the nuclear powers and permanent United Nations Security Council members who carry special responsibility for upholding peace and global stability.” This made it evident that the circumstances for such discussions were not yet in place.
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